The Pokémon Trading Card Game has been one of the most successful card games ever made,. Following the booming success of the original Game Boy titles, countless childhoods were filled with the joyous openings of booster packs and card collecting.
We often collected and played with these cards without adhering to any sort of rules, because rules are just a huge buzzkill over childhood imagination. As kids, certain cards were highly prized or sought after on the school-yard, whether it be for good reason or not. To which cards did we give a false sense of rarity?
10 Wailord
In the Pokémon games, Wailord has one of the highest HP stats in the entire series, and that’s to no surprise when looking at the fact that it is 47 feet long and almost 1,000 pounds.
Most of us probably played the TCG without knowing much about the official rules, so HP was definitely an important stat. When battling with simplified kid rules and taking turns just using your attacks without energy at the opponent, Wailord would often come out on top for just how much damage it could soak up with its monstrous HP.
9 Castform
Castform was a Pokémon introduced in the Hoenn region with a huge emphasis on the new addition of overworld weather effects. Castform would change forms depending on the weather, making it seem way rarer than it actually is.
Within the TCG, Castform is often just a common or uncommon card, with some of its forms being an exception. When a particular Pokémon is often a bit difficult to acquire within the actual video games, that then carries over to our perception of its respective card.
8 Delta Species
The Delta Species line of cards was introduced in Generation 3’s EX Delta Species expansion, which featured Pokémon that we all know and love with some odd typings. This includes an electric Dragonite, fire Mewtwo, steel Azumaril, and much more.
It’s quite understandable to believe that these cards were a rarity, as they’re so unique from most other cards. Although, a lot of these cards were common or uncommon, and could be found quite easily in the right expansion packs.
7 Foreign Cards
What is this mysterious language written on these cards? Why is the design on the back so different? Kids aren’t the most informed, but that isn’t their fault. Countless stories can be read of kids being tricked out of their genuinely rare cards for these foreign ones, as we were all so gullible.
Foreign cards can end up being a little more pricey than in your current region, but they’re actually cheaper most of the time, and Japanese and Korean packs can usually be bought at Pokémon stores for cheaper than their western counterparts.
6 Unown
A lot of younger Pokémon players have probably referred to Unown as a “legendary” at some point in their lives, and they can’t be blamed for it. There’s a whole set of ruins dedicated to them in Gold and Silver, after all.
These Pokémon are drastically different from most other ones, and there’s one for every letter of the alphabet, making them even more of a trap for kids trying to collect all of the “legendary alphabet Pokémon”.
5 Promotional Cards
To advertise new expansions, movies, or games, these promotional cards were often used to draw in fans of the TCG. Promotional cards were often shiny, featured some neat artwork, and seemed pretty powerful.
In terms of rarity, promotional cards are often never worth much, as they’re mass-produced and easily accessible. They were pretty easy to pass off as a rarity, though, especially the Ancient Mew card.
4 Porygon
Out of the original 151 Pokémon, Porygon is one of those that can seem like a legendary or at least a mythical Pokémon at first glance. It’s a bit hard to find in the original games, as its robotic nature sets it apart from the usual animal-like creatures.
In actuality, before we learned of the rarity indicator in the corner of cards, we assumed Porygon to be of a higher status than others, even if it was only an uncommon with some pretty terrible stats. Like, 40 HP? 10 Attack? Come on, Porygon, at least try to live up to your false rarity.
3 Ditto
While Ditto was considered a rare within the Fossil expansion it debuted in, it was usually seen as a common or uncommon in future iterations. Like Porygon, Ditto is one of the original Pokémon that was often perceived to be of a higher caliber than the creatures around it.
Ditto’s transforming ability also helped it reach a higher status than it should have had, as no other Pokémon in the series has access to it. Although, if it copied a truly rare card, would its rarity then increase? The world may never know.
2 Raichu
We all know Pikachu as the mascot of the series, and as an absolute marketing titan that is recognizable all across the world, but Raichu isn’t nearly as famous. It isn’t out of the question to guess that many kids weren’t even aware that Pikachu could evolve, so seeing Raichu instantly boosted its sense of rarity.
Raichu was put as a rare card in some expansions, but was also seen as an uncommon card in ones like EX Holon Phantoms. This beefed-up Pikachu was likely a gem within the collections for kids, and it was a decent card to boot.
1 Charizard
Excluding the actual rare versions of the Base Set Charizards that sell for thousands of dollars, Charizard was one of the most sought after cards in the entirety of the TCG. It doesn’t matter what type of Charizard it was, but it was just the fact that it was, and still is, one of the most popular Pokémon ever.
A good chunk of Red and Blue players chose Charmander as their starter, and any kid with a Charizard kid had an ungodly amount of clout. Some particularly shady trades have probably been done with Charizards, and it still retains its popularity into Sword and Shield.
NEXT: Pokemon: Top 10 Most Powerful Fire Cards, Ranked
